Ferrocerium is a man-made metallic material that produces hot sparks at temperatures of about when scraped against a rough surface (
pyrophoricity), such as ridged steel. Because of this property it is used in many applications, such as
clockwork toys, strikers for gas
welding and cutting torches, so-called "flint-and-steel" or "
flint spark lighter"
fire-starters in emergency
survival kits and
cigarette lighters, as the initial ignition source for the primary fuel. It is also commonly called ferro rod and most commonly of all, flint (particularly in cigarette lighters).